junior golf – Syndication Server

In latest move for growth, U.S. National Development Program launches Junior State Teams

Seven states will participate in the initial phase

The United States Golf Association announced Wednesday the creation of a state team pilot program that will expand the pipeline for elite junior golfers into the recently created U.S. National Development Program (USNDP). Seven states will participate in the initial phase, with the goal of all states having a team by 2033.

The first seven participants are California (Southern), Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Ohio and Tennessee. The program will come to fruition through close collaboration between the USGA, its allied golf associations, the PGA of America and relevant state junior programs.

“This first-of-its-kind state team program will serve as a critical part of the talent identification pathway for the USNDP and provide more opportunities for a diverse population of athletes to receive resources and guidance to compete at the highest levels of the game,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, USGA managing director, of Player Relations and Development, in a release. “Additionally, the opportunity to represent their home state will incentivize each region’s best junior golfers to play more in-state competitions, ultimately strengthening the junior golf programming across the country.”

The seven selected states participating in this initial pilot program will each establish a committee consisting of representatives from major golf organizations within the state, including any AGAs and PGA of America sections. The state committees will oversee team selection criteria and the operation of the state program based on guidelines provided by the USGA. Team selection criteria will vary by state and may consist of a points structure, ranking or combination of other competitive factors. Selection criteria from all seven states will be published before the entry deadline of the first counting event of their 2024 championship season.

State team roster sizes will be calculated by elite junior participation in the state, ranging from a minimum of two boys and two girls to a maximum of 20 boys and 20 girls.

To be eligible to compete on a state team in 2024, a player must be a U.S. citizen. Each eligible player must be 13 years old by Jan. 1, 2025, have not reached their 19th birthday by July 19, 2025, and cannot be enrolled in college for the 2024-25 school year. An official Handicap Index is also required.

Announced in February of 2023, the USNDP is designed to ensure that American golf is the global leader in the game by focusing on six key pillars: talent identification, access to competition, national teams, athlete resources, player development, and relations and athlete financial support. The state team program will focus on creating a developmentally appropriate, aspirational pathway for athletes within each state to compete at higher levels of the game, including an opportunity to represent the United States as a member of the USNDP’s National Team led by former Pepperdine associate head coach Chris Zambri.

“The state team program will allow us to leverage the expertise and local knowledge of the regional and state junior golf programs to ensure that all golfers with the appropriate skill have an equitable opportunity to pursue their dreams,” Zambri said in the release.

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Ann Sophie Bourgault continues winning fall with Golfweek International Junior title

Ann Sophie Bourgault is on a bit of a winning streak recently with the Golfweek International Junior Invitational being her latest victory.

Ann Sophie Bourgault has been on a bit of a winning streak recently. Two weeks ago, she topped the field in a South Florida PGA Junior event, firing a final-round 4-under 68 to wrap up the victory – which included playing her back nine in 5 under.

On Sunday, Bourgault did herself one better, using a final-round 67 at Celebration Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, to win the Golfweek International Junior Invitational by four shots.

“It’s definitely an important tournament,” Bourgault said when asked how her Golfweek victory stacks up with the others she’s amassed in a short but decorated career. “I think it’s the first invitational I’ve won so I’m definitely proud that I was able to win with such a great field and great people playing in this tournament. I think it’s definitely up there on the list for sure.”

After opening with 73, Bourgault managed the wind much better on Day 2.

“It was kind of a scrambling day,” she said of the first round, “saving par a lot of the times and just not how I would want to play. Today I just kind of woke up and just stuck with my gameplan, just focused each shot at a time and trust myself.

“Today I was able to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and I converted some birdies so just kept the game simple.”

Scores: Golfweek International Junior Invitational

Bourgault’s final round was particularly big at Celebration, and it ties her personal best in competition. Earlier in the fall, Bourgault used a final-round 67 to win the Quebec Amateur Championship. In fact, she won all three divisions – amateur, junior and juvenile – to be named a Triple Crown winner in the event.

For the past four years, Bourgault, who goes by the nickname “AnnSo” and wears those letters in a necklace, and her family have lived in Naples, Florida, for six to eight months of the year. They return home to Quebec, where Bourgault plays out of Royal Ottawa Golf Club, in the summer months.

Bourgault was invited to Team Canada selection camp this year but didn’t make the final roster even though the experience helped move her game forward. The high school sophomore hopes to play college golf in the U.S. and is looking ahead to this summer, when coaches can begin communicating with her. Until then, she’s putting her energy toward keeping a list of where she’d like to play and improving her game to make sure she has that opportunity.

Photos: Golfweek International Junior Invitational, Girls

Consistency has always been a strong point of Bourgault’s game and as a self-described shorter hitter, she has needed her short game to be sharp. She recently started working with putting coach Derek MacDonald back home at Royal Ottawa and can see that paying off.

“Right now I think what I’m trying to improve is gain more distance, gain more strength, keep working out and getting stronger,” she said

Bourgault notes that she has begun working with a personal trainer and that outside of golf, CrossFit is another thing that occupies her time. Clearly, she doesn’t let anything remain a weakness for long.

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Lucas Gimenez shatters personal-best score to run away with Golfweek International Junior title

Lucas Gimenez can’t imagine how he’ll forget the past weekend in Orlando, Florida.

“I mean, I’ve gotta put it at No. 1 just because I broke my record,” he said when asked how his nine-shot victory at the Golfweek International Junior Invitational stacks up on his list of career victories.

Gimenez, a 15-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, blistered the field from the start. He made birdie on Celebration Golf Club’s opening par 4, eagled the par-3 sixth and followed that with six birdies in his next seven holes for an opening 8-under 64. Entering the tournament, the high school sophomore’s previous best score in competition had been 10 under. He finished the weekend at the Golfweek event at 12 under.

Midway through his practice round at Celebration, a course he hadn’t seen before this tournament, it dawned on Gimenez that this could be a good week. He saw shades of Marsh Landing Country Club in Ponte Vedra, Florida, which is near his Jacksonville home.

Scores: Golfweek International Junior Invitational

“I was kind of telling myself, oh this is just like the course I played in Jacksonville before,” he said. “I’ve always played well at that course so I knew it was going to fit me well in the practice round.”

You might say he punched the gas at the sixth hole on Saturday. After hitting his drive perfectly on that par 5, he pulled a 6-iron from 190 yards, started it at the pin and watched it draw into a slope on the green and trickle down to 8 feet from the hole. He made the uphill eagle putt and that was that.

“That was a big confidence booster because that led me to go 5 under in the last four holes,” he said of his front-nine 30.

After an opening 64, his best competitive round ever, Gimenez kept it together to come back with 68 on Sunday and finish nine shots ahead of runners-up Michael Gavin of Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Sol Richmond of Windermere, Florida.

Photos: Golfweek International Junior Invitational, Boys

“For me, it was just kind of sticking to my game. Sticking to who I am and how I play,” Gimenez said of that mind game. “Not getting out of my head, focusing on each hole, shot by shot. That helped me quite a bit today. A lot. Just kind of focusing on every shot, shot after shot, keeping my head down, keep grinding.”

On a weekend like the one Gimenez produced, a player has to be accurate off the tee. He was. What happens around the greens matters too, of course, and Gimenez attributes his performance there to work he’s been doing with short-game coach Mike Shannon. He recently had his first lesson with Shannon.

“He got me straightened out a little bit and then the first round everything just kind of clicked,” Gimenez said.

Gimenez’s opening round of 64 at Celebration may have been his lowest in competition, but it wasn’t his best round ever. Three years ago, as he was getting ready for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship, he was out playing Windsor Park Golf Course in Jacksonville with his coach and shot that most famous number: 59.

The AJGA Performance Stars Gimenez earned from his Golfweek win will be a big boost for the coming year, but he was just as pleased with the new friends he’d collected as the performance stars. Gimenez, a late entry into the field, arrived on the range at Celebration expecting to find a field of the best juniors from Florida. He looked around to see so many more cultures and nationalities than he was expecting, and relished meeting and playing with new opponents.

“This is not just a small tournament,” Gimenez said, “it’s a very big tournament.”

And Gimenez delivered a very big performance indeed.

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Photos: Golfweek International Junior Invitational, Boys

Check out images from the boys competition at the Golfweek International Junior Invitational at Celebration Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.

The Golfweek International Junior Invitational, which has been played for more than 20 years, wrapped up at Celebration Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.

Lucas Gimenez ran away with the boys competition, going 12 under to win by nine shots. Ann Sophie Bourgault won the girls division by four shots after finishing 36 holes at 4 under.

Add Gimenez and Bourgault to an impressive list of past champions that also includes LPGA players Annie Park, Stephanie Meadow and Bailey Tardy on the women’s side and Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffman and, more recently, U.S. Walker Cup team member Nicholas Gabrelcik on the men’s side.

Golfweek International Junior: Scores

Check out photos from the boys competition at Celebration:

Team Europe runs away with Junior Ryder Cup title at Marco Simone

The Europeans ended a long losing streak.

On the eve of the 44th Ryder Cup, another trophy was handed out on the grounds that the golf world will focus on the next three days.

Team Europe ran away with the Junior Ryder Cup title, ending a streak of six straight losses to the Americans, winning 20½-9½ at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy. The Europeans dominated singles, winning seven of the 12 singles matches and tying three others to claim 8.5 points on the final day.

Europe took a commanding 12-6 lead after winning all six fourball matches on Wednesday. The teams were tied at 6 after the first day of competition.

A 2014 Ryder Cup player, Stephen Gallacher, led the European squad while PGA past president Paul Levy captained the U.S.

2023 Junior Ryder Cup — European captain Stephen Gallacher holds up the trophy as European players celebrate on the 18th green after winning the Junior Ryder Cup ahead the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome on September 28, 2023. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Nicholas Gross and Billy Davis were the lone Americans to win their singles matches on Thursday. Anna Davis, Billy’s twin sister, halved her match, as did Leigh Chien and Kylie Chong.

The first two rounds were held at Golf Nazionale in Rome before moving to Marco Simone for the final round. This was the first year the singles matches were held on a third day and at the site of the current Ryder Cup.

The U.S. now owns a 7-4-1 all-time record in the biennial competition. The team features six boys and six girls who are U.S. citizens and members of the high school graduating class of 2024 or younger.

Best junior golf clubs for 2023

Get ready for the upcoming fall golf season with new boys and girls junior clubs.

As we hit the middle of the summer, it’s the perfect time to get your junior into the game of golf!

Among all the great things golf can do for your young one, being outside with good friends is near the top of that list.

To get your junior started, we created a list of some of the best and most affordable junior sets on the market. Making sure that each set includes exactly what they’ll need is a great place to start.

Brands like TaylorMade, Wilson, Tour Edge and U.S. Kids Golf are all included.

So, without further ado, check out our list of junior sets below.

6-foot-10 Tommy Morrison earns medalist honors at U.S. Junior Amateur

Tommy came to play.

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Coming into the week at the U.S. Junior Amateur, Tommy Morrison was one of the favorites.

And he’s standing out after the first two rounds of stroke play. Morrison, who’s 6-foot-10 and the second-oldest player in the field, shot 8-under over the first 36 holes to earn the top match play seed at the 75th U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday. The rising sophomore at Texas finished one shot ahead of his competition.

“It means a lot,” said Morrison of medalist honors. “I want to win as many medals and trophies as I can. Any USGA medal is a good one.”

Earlier this year, Morrison competed with Tony Romo in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Kiawah Island.

Andrew Gregory, 17, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is one of five South Carolina natives in the field. He finished just one back of Morrison after shooting rounds of 66-70 for a two-day total of 7-under 136. Gregory, who will begin his freshman season at Liberty University in the fall, is playing in his third straight U.S. Junior Amateur. This is his first time advancing to match play.

“There is always a chance,” said Gregory about the match-play format. “Just let the other person make all the mistakes and just keep it in the fairway. Don’t show any emotion. Just make pars all day and when birdies come, birdies come.”

On Wednesday morning, there was a 14-for-7 playoff to determine the final match play spots. Then, the Round of 64 got underway.

Matches continue through Saturday’s 36-hole championship match.

This 15-year-old Monday qualifier made the cut in her first LPGA start

“I mean, it’s my first tournament, it’s the best experience, I’m just excited to be here.”

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On Monday, Mia Hammond was playing in a Monday qualifier, trying to get into her first LPGA event. By day’s end, she won that Monday qualifier and has plans for Thursday and Friday.

Come Friday afternoon, her weekend was booked: playing in the 2023 Dana Open.

Hammond shot consecutive rounds of 68 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, to make the cut in her first LPGA start. The 15-year-old, who is not in the field at next week’s U.S. Girls’ Junior in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will play the weekend in a professional event instead.

“It’s so amazing, it’s honestly a dream come true,” Hammond said. “I’ve put in a lot of work over the winter and beginning of the season this year, and it’s so great to see it finally pay off. I had a few rough tournaments here and there so just so relieving.”

Not only will she make the cut, she walked off the course inside the top 20 on the leaderboard.

A reminder: Hammond is 15, Monday qualified and is making her first professional start. Not bad.

“I would say for now I’m going to set a goal as top 20,” she said of her goals this weekend. “If it happens to be better than that, then that’s great. I’m just here for the experience more than anything else. Playing on the LPGA Tour is a dream of mine in the future. So just getting a feel for what it’s actually like to be out here is more important to me.”

Hammond has hit 28-of-36 greens and also missed only six of the 28 fairways. She’s averaging 265 yards off the tee.

Now, it’s time to prepare for the weekend.

“I’m just going to take it all in,” Hammond said. “Spend time with the people that are here, make the best of it. I mean, it’s my first tournament, it’s the best experience, I’m just excited to be here.”

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Cooper Groshart, Megan Meng capture 2023 First Tee National Championship titles

Both winners were awarded with the Tattersall Cup in honor of event chairman Fred Tattersall.

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Megan Meng and Cooper Groshart of San Luis Obispo, California, won the girls and boys divisions of the third annual First Tee National Championship at Stanford Golf Course.

The event brought together First Tee’s elite golfers for an opportunity to showcase how the program has helped build the strength of character needed to play at the next level.

Meng, a 16-year-old senior from Pennington, New Jersey, has been involved with First Tee for more than 10 years. She finished the 54-hole tournament 5-under to win by five strokes. In the final round, Meng shot a tournament-low 66 – including a front nine 30 – to secure her victory.

In 2022, Meng won another marquee First Tee event, the PURE Insurance Championship pro-junior title, a PGA Tour Champions event held at Pebble Beach, shooting a 64 on Sunday. Meng is committed to play golf at Northwestern.

“Practice makes better, and practice definitely gets you where you want to go, so it’s all about how much time you’re willing to put in practicing on the course, but also make sure to have fun with it. Golf is a game for fun and spending time with your friends,” Meng said.

Groshart, 18, finished in the top 10 at the 2021 and 2022 First Tee National Championships before winning in this, his third and final attempt. He finished the tournament 4 over after shooting a final-round 71. Groshart recently graduated from San Luis Obispo High School and will play golf this fall at California State University, East Bay.

Like Meng, Groshart played at the 2022 PURE Insurance Championship, where he hit a hole-in-one on the iconic seventh hole during a practice round.

“This week I’ve just made a ton of friends and seen old friends I don’t get to see that often,” Groshart said. “This tournament feels like everyone is friends. Everyone is out here for a good time. We want to play some good golf too, but it’s a bunch of friends hanging out on the golf course.”

Both winners were awarded the Tattersall Cup in honor of event chairman Fred Tattersall. Two players from the First Tee National Championship field were also awarded a one-time exemption into the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee, held at Pebble Beach Golf Links Sept. 16-24, 2023.

With this year’s national championship winners having already played in the tournament, the exemptions were passed to Alaythia Hinds of First Tee – Greater Sacramento, who finished second among the girls, and Sean Kwok of First Tee – Tri Valley, who finished fifth among the boys.

For the first time, the four lowest-scoring eligible players (two boys and two girls) from the national championship also earned admission into the PGA Tour’s new Pathways to Progression program, which aims to support talented golfers from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the sport.

The PGA Tour will announce the full roster for its Pathways program, including the four players who earned their spots at the First Tee National Championship, in the coming days.

“Congratulations to everyone who competed in the third annual First Tee national championship this week,” First Tee CEO Greg McLaughlin said. “Especially to Megan and Cooper. They represented First Tee with confidence and poise, and we look forward to seeing all that they continue to accomplish on and off the golf course. Thank you to Fred Tattersall for his ongoing support of this tournament and Stanford University for a memorable week.”

First Tee’s national championship is held annually at various college golf courses around the nation providing First Tee participants the opportunity to network with others from across the country and take in the college experience. Stanford University hosted the third annual Championship, following the previous two years at University of Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course and Clemson University’s The Walker Course, respectively.

The field included 24 boys and 24 girls, ages 14-18, who were selected based on their golf skills and competitive golf experience including 15 competitors who are currently committed to play collegiate golf. Players came from 29 First Tee chapters across the country.

Japan sweeps 2023 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup, United States girls finish second

Japan pulled away late from the United States.

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To no one’s great surprise, Japan wound up sweeping top honors on the final day of the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup Supported by Japan Airlines — though it wound up more stressful than perhaps anyone might have imagined.

That was especially true in the girls’ division, which went to Friday’s final hole before the host nation — which had smashed scoring records every day this week — managed to hold off a frenzied United States comeback to claim its third team title in the past four editions.

“I was actually so nervous on that last hole that my hands were shaking,” admitted Yuna Araki, whose closing par at Chukyo Golf Club’s Ishino course not only clinched the team title but individual honors over Californian Anna Davis.

After beginning the day with a seven-shot advantage, Japan found itself tied with the U.S. squad with just six holes left to play among all groups. Late birdies by Araki and Saki Baba nudged the Japanese trio back in front, clinching a two-shot triumph even with a record total of 34-under 542.

It was somewhat easier for Japan’s boys, though their six-shot lead to start the day shrank to just two over Canada midway through the opening nine. But that’s where Kaito Sato, Reo Maruo and Jukito Ogawa stepped things up, combining for eight birdies in a four-hole stretch to create more cushion as they made the turn.

“Those birdies at (Nos.) 5, 6 and 7 created a good rhythm for me personally,” said Sato, also the boys’ individual winner after a 5-under-par 67. “I’d imagine it was the same for the others.”

Japan’s team score of 34-under 818 — third-best in nearly three decades of tournament history — was enough to outpace Canada by four. It was the host nation’s first victory on the boys’ side since 2015.

Friday’s results also marked the first time that one nation captured both boys’ and girls’ trophies since 2017, when Team USA also went home with the complete set of both team championships and both individual crowns.

“It is a good thing that the boys were able to keep up with the girls this week,” said Sato. “I think overall, Japanese players are getting better and we are able to compete on the world stage.”

The competition utilizes a format similar to U.S. college golf, with each boys’ team counting the three best scores among its four players each day. In the girls’ division, each team counts the two best scores among three.

The week had been billed as a showdown of the powerful Japanese and U.S. girls, and Friday’s final hours did not disappoint. While Japan’s trio of Araki, Baba and Saori Iijima got off to a collective slow start — just one birdie between them in the first six holes — their U.S. counterparts were firing.

Jasmine Koo reeled off three straight birdies from Nos. 2-4, though she later cooled off. Davis had three birdies in a bogey-free front nine as the Americans sliced the lead by nearly half.

“We all knew what we had to do,” said Davis, winner of the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. “We knew we were seven shots behind, but we knew it was definitely possible to make up. We were close there for a while.”

Better than close, standing side-by-side at 32-under late in the final stretch. Baba, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, birdied the par-4 17th to nose Japan in front as Team USA’s Katie Li finished up a 67.

Araki and Davis, playing in the group behind, each birdied No. 16 and parred No. 17 to keep the margin at one going to the 18th tee.

Araki, nerves notwithstanding, found the fairway but Davis watched her drive race into a fairway bunker — plugging just underneath the lip.

“Not a very good combination, to say the least,” Davis quipped.

She managed to advance the ball just short and right of the green, but her chip shot ran 15 feet past the pin and she couldn’t convert the par save. Araki’s approach came down just short of the green, but she was able to chip within inches for the victory.

To read the rest of this story and more from our partners at Amateur Golf, click here.